European values - Romania - 1999

The initiative to conduct research investigating the values shared by the populations of various European countries from a comparative perspective emerged in 1978, when the study group on European value systems was established. The initial objective was to compare the value systems held by residents of European community member states. Another objective was to analyze the evolution over time of the values shared by the European population. The tool used to investigate values was a questionnaire-based survey, which included a large number of items related to attitudes and behaviors, allowing for the study of values. For all countries participating in the study, the items included in the questionnaires were similar, in an effort to ensure the greatest possible comparability between the data collected in different countries. The values addressed by the questionnaire focused on the population's attitudes in areas such as religion, politics, work, family life, social relationships, sexual relationships, etc. particular attention was paid to religious values, as one of the stated objectives of the study was to compare religious values across different European countries, as well as conducting a longitudinal analysis of their evolution. The first study was conducted in 1981 and included the member states of the European community, along with other Western European countries. The first wave (1981) included 12 countries: France, the united kingdom, West germany, italy, spain, the netherlands, denmark, norway, sweden, ireland and northern ireland, and iceland. The general name under which this research was and is conducted is the European values study (evs). A second wave of surveys took place in 1990-1991 and included a much larger number of European countries, with central and Eastern European states added to those included in the first wave. Romania was also included in this wave of surveys, though the research was conducted with a delay, not until 1993. The objectives of this second wave of research were to compare the values held by residents of various European countries and to make comparisons over time between the data collected in 1990 and those collected in 1981, with the aim of tracking the evolution of value orientations over time. The third wave of the study took place in 1999-2000 and included 33 European countries-that is, most of the countries in Europe, with the exception of switzerland, norway, and several countries in the former yugoslavia and the former ussr. The objectives in this case were the same, focusing on cross-sectional, cross-cultural, and longitudinal comparisons, with data now available covering a period of nearly 20 years. In all three waves of the study, the survey was conducted on samples that included the population aged 18 and older in the respective countries; the samples were either probabilistic or quota-based. In all three surveys, the questionnaire included a series of items common to previous studies, to allow for longitudinal comparisons. For the 1999 survey, the questionnaires included a set of mandatory items applied in all participating countries (those marked with 'v' in the questionnaire), a set of optional items (marked with 'o'), whose inclusion in the questionnaire was at the discretion of each individual research team, though they retained their common nature, and a series of country-specific items, administered exclusively in that country (denoted by 's' among the variables in the questionnaire). The questionnaire used in the evs was also administered in the united states and canada, under the coordination of ronald inglehart, in both 1981 and 1990. Inglehart also initiated the world values survey (wvs) project, under which a significant portion of the evs questionnaire was administered in non-European countries, such as those in south america and asia. The wvs was repeated in 1995 (1997 in Romania). in Romania, the first survey as part of the evs project took place in 1993, and the second in 1999. The survey was conducted in both 1993 and 1999 by the institute for quality of life research. while financial difficulties in 1991 and 1995 caused the Romanian survey to be conducted two years late, in 1999 it was possible to conduct it practically simultaneously with Western European countries. See www.iccv.ro/Romana/Teme/Evs/Evs.htm

Identifier

roda-080

Year

1999

Keywords